“All right, then.” Carmen smiles. “Jenna has a queen-size mattress in her shed.”
I nod to Jenna. “Good. When can we pick it up?”
Donny and I don’t talk much on the way to Grand Junction. He seems preoccupied. When we reach the restaurant, we’re seated quickly, and Donny orders us a couple of margaritas. I don’t have the heart to tell him I’d prefer a Diet Coke.
“How’s your dad looking?” I ask.
“Good. A little weak, but good. They’d only been home for about a half hour when I left to pick you up.”
“Didn’t you want to stay home tonight? Be with them?”
“I thought about it, but I figured it would be better for me to get out of there so he could get settled back in.”
I nod. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Our margaritas arrive, and I take a sip. A little too sweet for me, but I smile. “I have a lot to tell you.”
“I know. But Callie… It’s up to you. If you’re not ready…”
Am I ready? Admittedly, I’m feeling a lot better about the situation now that I know we still have our evidence against Pat Lamone. But we were hardly innocent back then.
If we still have our evidence…
He most likely still has his as well.
And his evidence can make our lives pretty miserable.
“A lot of it is high school drama. Some drama that we let get out of hand.”
“We?”
“Rory and me. And Jordan. And Carmen, Jenna McKnight, and Letitia Hayes.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t want you to be angry with me.”
“Callie, I promise I won’t be angry with you for something you did in high school. High school doesn’t define a person.”
“I know that.”
“But I mean it. If you’re not ready to talk about it—”
I hold up a hand to stop him. “I have to, Donny. I want to.”
He takes a long sip of his margarita then. “Before you do…” He takes another sip. “I should give you a choice.”
I wrinkle my forehead. “What kind of choice are you talking about?”
He clears his throat. “There’s a lot going on right now in my family.”
“I know. I wish there were something I could do to help.”
He inhales sharply and shakes his head. “None of it is your problem.”
My heart jumps a little. Where is he going with this?
“I guess what I’m trying to say is…” He rubs at his temples. “Damn it.”